World’s Most Dangerous Drinking Water

Access to safe drinking water remains one of the most fundamental requirements for human health and economic development. Yet for millions of people worldwide, clean water remains far from guaranteed.

A new assessment from the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) has revealed a troubling picture of global drinking water quality, identifying the countries where unsafe water poses some of the greatest risks to public health. The findings show that African nations account for the overwhelming majority of the world's lowest-ranked countries.

The EPI evaluates drinking water safety using a health-based indicator that measures disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost per 100,000 people due to unsafe water exposure. Scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating safer drinking water and lower health risks.

The latest rankings underscore the persistent challenges facing many developing nations, where inadequate infrastructure, environmental degradation, climate pressures, and limited sanitation services continue to undermine water quality.

Many of the countries appearing in the rankings face similar structural challenges: aging or insufficient water infrastructure, inadequate wastewater treatment systems, rapid population growth, and limited access to sanitation services.

In rural communities across several African nations, millions of people continue to rely on unprotected wells, rivers, seasonal water sources, or rainwater collection systems that remain vulnerable to contamination.

Climate-related pressures, including prolonged droughts, floods, and changing rainfall patterns, have further strained already fragile water systems.

Countries ranked between 30th and 21st included several African nations such as Cameroon, Angola, Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Botswana, and Benin, alongside Pacific island states such as Kiribati and Papua New Guinea.

Countries ranked between 20th and 11th continued to face significant challenges in providing safe water and sanitation services.

These included Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mali, Eswatini, Haiti, Sierra Leone, and Togo.

In many of these countries, inadequate sanitation systems contribute directly to contamination of water supplies, increasing exposure to waterborne diseases and other public health risks.

The 10 Worst Countries for Drinking Water Quality:

Malawi

Burundi

Eritrea

Burkina Faso

Nigeria

Madagascar

Niger

According to the report, these countries continue to struggle with a combination of infrastructure shortages, environmental pollution, sanitation challenges, and limited investment in water management systems.

The bottom three positions in the global ranking paint an even more alarming picture.

Third place: Lesotho, where poor sanitation practices and livestock-related contamination continue to affect water quality.

Second place: Central African Republic, where water systems are frequently absent, damaged, or poorly maintained, particularly in rural areas.

Worst in the world: Chad, which recorded a score of just 4.6 out of 100, making it the lowest-ranked country globally for drinking water quality.

The report attributes Chad’s position largely to severe shortages in basic water infrastructure, limited treatment capacity, and inadequate access to safe drinking water for large segments of the population.

Experts note that water quality is not only a public health issue but also a major economic challenge.

Unsafe drinking water contributes to disease outbreaks, lowers labor productivity, increases healthcare costs, disrupts education, and slows economic development. The burden is particularly severe for children and vulnerable populations.